Cruciamen
by raistss
Summary: Death the Kid goes missing, and when Soul and the gang find him, it's not like anything they had expected. Inspired by the pure lack of angst I've come across. AU, anime-based, Implied Kid/Liz. Rated T for STUFF.
1. Prologue

A/N: Yeah, so my friends at school got me back into Soul Eater, and this is my first fanfiction for it, so I apologize if they're a little out of character. I've only seen all of the anime and am only at the 36th chapter of the books, so I use the anime terms for stuff...I guess this would be considered an AU fic? I dunno. Most of the explanations for things are from my head, sorry if I get stuff wrong haha. And no, I don't own Soul Eater or any of its characters, this is strictly for entertainment, yada yada...

* * *

Maka, Soul, Black Star and Tsubaki, as well as Liz and Patty all stood in front of the large, grey barn. It was well past 10:00, and the moon chuckled softly, casting a gentle yellow light on the dilapidated building. The six had been about to go inside when Maka activated her soul perception and stopped, clearly shocked at what she saw. Soul glanced over to his meister, concerned.

Of course, everyone was concerned. Death the Kid had dissapeared a week ago, and they'd been sent out to find him. Liz and Patty, being able to wield each other, had tagged along despite Lord Death's concerns. Now they were in Iowa, having tracked down a kishin egg during their search.

"What is it, Maka?" Soul's voice was quiet; he was hesitant to know what she saw behind those doors. "There's the kishin egg, like I saw before...but it's not alone." Maka was silent for a moment, struggling. "And...Kid's in there, too." Everyone perked up at his name. "But his soul is really _weak_...it's flickering, kind of dim."

For once, Black Star was silent. Despite his claim to having had beaten Kid on his first day at the academy, the boy really did know just how strong the young reaper was. It was a well-known fact that Kid was virtually immortal, for he never once visited the dispensary - despite having received countless injuries that would have killed anyone else at the DWMA, excluding Lord Death.

Liz and Patty were also silent, absorbing the information grimly. None of the students truly knew what awaited them behind those doors, so they took Maka's ability as a blessing. Slowly, she pushed the barn doors open. The moonlight flooded in, but it was not anything they saw that made all six of the kids sick. It was the smell that rushed out through the doors and into their faces.

It was the smell of blood.


	2. Chapter One

A/N: Wow, 2 comments and it's only been here for a day! This is most exciting :) Anyways, I still don't own Soul Eater or its characters...now on to the story~!

* * *

As soon as the six had walked into the room, the kishin egg leaped out of the shadows. This particular kishin was partially in the form of a cat, and partially human. Its head and arms were human, despite being covered in a thick coat of grey fur and having long, bloodied claws on its fingers. The rest of its body was exactly like a - very large - cat. Its words were unintelligible and hoarse, mostly coming out as growls and hisses.

However, it wasn't very strong yet, and Maka and Soul finished it off with a well-timed Witch Hunter. After a three-second debate, the team gave the kishin's soul to Tsubaki, since she and Black Star had the least souls. Free of any distractions, they were now able to locate Kid. Maka used her soul perception, and Liz mumbled something about cheating as they followed her into another room in the barn.

They found Kid, but none of them had expected what they did see. Liz, Patty, Soul, Maka, and Tsubaki all stared in horror, and Black Star actually threw up. Kid was bound tightly to one of the support beams, a table with neatly arranged scalpels and knives next to his mutilated body. He was still breathing, his bare chest rising and falling erratically. His stomach looked as though it had been gouged out, and the circle of blood that had pooled around his feet was at least a foot in diameter. The rest of the pale, bare skin on his upper body was bruised and cut, the lines neat and extremely deep. Suddenly, he twitched and coughed up at least a pint of blood.

Liz promptly fainted.

In the end, Patty carried Liz while Black Star and Soul carried Kid, who hadn't noticed anything around him at all. Maka and Tsubaki were both curious as to why he hadn't healed - not even the smaller injuries were fading away, despite his reaper body's healing capabilities. When they made it back to the DWMA the day after, Kid was immediately taken into surgery.

Lord Death was nowhere to be found, so Maka and the others assumed he was with Kid.

* * *

Maka had managed to drag Liz and Patty away from the waiting room when school let out, convincing the two that Kid wouldn't even be conscious when he was let out. The Thompson sisters spent the night with Maka and Soul, not wanting to go to Gallows Manor without Kid at their sides. They were mostly quiet, and the scythe and his meister didn't push them. The four watched a movie together, then went their separate ways for the night.

The next day, Maka and Soul followed the weapon sisters to the dispensary, where Professor Stein stood, waiting patiently. Upon their arrival, he stood up straight and began to explain what had happened, the four students listening intently.

"Kid is stable at the moment, but we doubt he's going to stay that way for much longer. He has at least 20 broken bones, and as Lord Death said, his healing capabilities were overwhelmed with the severity of his injuries, which will cause the recovery to be only slightly faster than that of a regular human's. He also lacks enough physical strength to pull it off at the moment."

Stein paused, watching the student's grim expressions for a moment. "In hopes of gathering more strength for his recovery, his body has partially shut down, similar to a coma. However, he can awaken from it whenever he chooses." The worried and tense expressions on their faces faded a little, but they still remained. "We weren't able to get much more information," Stein apologized, "So the next few weeks are likely to get hectic." He pushed open the door, letting the students into the dispensary.

Kid was the only student occupying the room, and he didn't look much better than he had when they'd found him, aside from the lack of a bloody mess. Wires and tubes were held on his arms by their needles, and the EKG's beeps were fast, but soft and easy to ignore. His already naturally pale skin was even more pale, covered in a thin sheen of sweat despite the cold cloth over his forehead and eyes. His body was covered by the sheets, but everyone had an idea of what he looked like beneath them.

And that was how he stayed for an entire week, with Liz and Patty at his side as often as possible, and his other friends visiting as much as they could between classes and missions. It was a little more than a week later when Kid opened his eyes, only to find Liz asleep on his arm and Patty concentrating on a drawing - most likely a giraffe - by the window. His vision swam, mind hazy from the drugs flowing freely through his system, which his reaper body did not reject at the moment.

Unfortunately, his comfort was short-lived. In what felt like a stab to his chest, he found himself coughing violently, unable to breathe, until a clump of blood - that somehow reminded him of a hairball - dislodged itself from his throat.

In the process, he'd woken up Liz and gotten Patty's attention. Patty skipped over to him, her blue eyes wide with curiosity, and Liz lifted her head groggily. Her face was red with imprints from the sheet she'd rested on for an hour. When her vision focused, Kid smiled at her, a weak and tired smile, but a smile nevertheless. She smiled back, her eyes sparkling with the tears that formed. No words needed to be spoken.

Despite having woken up, Kid was far from recovered. He spent the next two days mostly coughing up blood until his throat was raw, and suffering from horrible fevers. He wasn't strong enough yet for his 'reaper powers,' as everyone called them, to reactivate. Thus, his body accepted the painkillers that were given to him, and he spent most of the time sleeping.

Of course, he had no control over his reaper body when it came to times like this.


	3. Chapter Two

A/N: Wow, it has been entirely too long since I last updated. I've had a lot of homework and distractions lately. Bluh. Anyways, I don't own Soul Eater and enjoy, you sadistic fans! :)

* * *

As Kid slept, Liz would often find her mind drifting back to their first time meeting and their experiences in trying to get to know each other. Liz had been stubborn then, not trusting the young reaper who had just plucked the sisters off of the streets because they were "perfectly symmetrical."

When they first started training, Patty and Kid could resonate easily, but Liz's soul didn't communicate with Kid's very well. They didn't understand or trust each other at all, which caused problems for both of them. Kid would often end up with a burnt palm, and Liz with a migraine that wouldn't go away. She did associate it with Kid's complaining about being asymmetrical and having to cover both hands with gauze, though. One particular day, though, about two weeks after having moved into Gallows Manor, Liz actually confronted Kid about the day's events.

She'd seen him attempting to bandage his hands, and had gotten so irritated that she sat down in front of him, unwrapped what he'd done, and started over. He was silent, unsure of what to make of this situation. When she glanced up into his golden eyes, she saw discomfort, unfamiliarity, and most of all; sadness. Deciding not to react, she focused on the bandages, but one question nagged her. Once she finished his first hand, she asked it.

"Why are you so obsessed with symmetry, anyways?" Her voice had been flat, almost uncaring.

The reaper flinched, averting his eyes and feeling fear weighing down his stomach. He remained silent until Liz had finished wrapping his other hand, then managed to form a response.

"My life was...better, when it was _balanced_...before..." He trailed off, unwilling to finish the sentence. Liz, still sitting on her knees in front of him, stared expectantly. He clenched his fists, his soul aching from memories that he'd tried to forget. But Liz's eyes seemed to stare right through his soul, and he forced the words out in a broken whisper.

"Before mom left."

Liz had been silent, absorbing this new information. She realized he was trying to tell her more, but she could tell it was difficult. When five minutes passed, she started telling him about herself.

"Patty and I, we never really knew our parents. Dad died from cancer, and mom...well, she became an alcoholic after that and left us out on the streets when she died from drinking too much." As soon as Liz had started speaking, Kid's troubled expression had changed to one of curiosity. She saw confidence growing in those golden hues as she spoke, and as soon as she'd finished, he started again.

"When I was born, dad had already founded the DWMA, so he was never home. We had to visit him at the school or call him if we needed him... Since I'm a reaper, I didn't go to school with everyone else and lived alone with mom. She taught me everything I know today, and made this huge manor seem much less empty." Liz was listening intently, and even Patty had stopped drawing to listen to her meister's life story.

"When I turned ten, she started to get stressed with being stuck in Death City. She'd take me for long walks, but she never felt satisfied. Two weeks later, she packed up her things and left. I get postcards from her when she goes somewhere new, and I only have one picture of her." Kid frowned a little, taking out a little black wallet with a skull emblem, and opened it up to reveal a picture of the entire Death family.

Kid looked to be about five years old in the picture, and Lord Death wasn't wearing his cloak and mask. He looked similar to Kid, of course, but his medium-length hair was straight and the white stripes completely circled his head. Most of Kid's features were from his mother; her ebony hair was naturally curly, wrapping around her ivory skin. She had a round face, much like Kid. Her large, chocolate-brown eyes were almond-shaped and bright with curiosity. She had simple makeup; black eyeshadow with a little curl beneath her right eye. She was dressed simply; a black tank-top, black jeans, and a necklace.

Liz whispered, "She's beautiful," under her breath, and Kid smiled faintly in agreement. He put the wallet back in his pocket, standing up and holding out a bandaged hand. "Why don't we try that again?" he asked. Liz grinned, taking his hand and jumping up onto her feet. "Fine by me," was all she'd said.

Liz snapped out of her reverie when Kid let out an ear-piercing scream.

* * *

Everyone had known it would happen, but nobody thought it would be so fast. As Professor Stein had explained, Kid's body had healed enough for his reaper capabilities to kick in again, so the painkillers and everything else they'd been giving him had basically been burned away and continued to be rejected as his body struggled to heal something - something nobody could figure out. His external injuries had all healed pretty quickly, but there was something inside...

He'd eventually passed out from the pain, but it wasn't as if he was really conscious before. Even Patty had stopped trying to reassure Liz that Kid would be okay. Nobody was sure what was happening to him; not even Death had the slightest idea. The only person who could help was Kid, and when he did wake up, his words were slurred and couldn't be comprehended.

Liz found herself sitting next to him right after her classes ended, listening to his mostly delirious mutters. She heard things about Soul, Maka, Tsubaki, Black Star, and everyone else they knew and had fought, but she'd always hear things about symmetry in between. At one point his golden eyes had cleared up, and he'd looked at her in silence for nearly five minutes, and she'd thought maybe he'd finally recovered, but then he said something about his mom and his eyes glazed over again.

The routine continued for nearly three weeks, Kid's agonized screaming echoing off of the walls of the school and his ramblings being heard only by Liz and Patty, and occasionally the rest of their team. The other four were mostly frightened by his physical and mental state, having never actually seen him survive such a severe injury, or having his worst panic attack.

On the second week, Kid had tried to tell Liz something about a poison and a stomach, but he passed out halfway through his mantra and she couldn't figure out the connection. It sounded like he meant he'd been poisoned, but Liz thought that was impossible. His reaper body would eliminate it immediately, right?

Nevertheless, she told Stein about it. For once, he didn't say anything about dissecting him and looked genuinely concerned.

She supposed that Kid had really gotten himself into a huge mess this time.

* * *

A/N: Sorry, that was kind of short and totally did not go in the direction I had intended. (lol) However, Kid's mom is based off of Death from Neil Gaiman's Sandman comics, which I don't own either.


End file.
